Seventeen Native American-majority counties leaned toward President-elect Donald Trump by more than 10% this past election. 

Like black and Latino voters, Native Americans have historically leaned in favor of Democratic candidates, but tides appear to be turning as all nine Native American majority counties in South Dakota moved to the right. In New Mexico’s McKinley County, consisting of 81% Native Americans, voters shifted 14 points to the right, and North Dakota’s Sioux County, also 81% Native American,  moved 10 points. 

Perhaps what is most notable is how Native American voters swung in presidential swing states and competitive Senate races. 

For instance, in Arizona, the swing state with the largest population of Native Americans, support from Native American voters dropped from 34% for President Joe Biden in 2020 to 19% for Vice President Kamala Harris this election. 

Just 3% of North Carolina’s population is Native American — making it a voting bloc with minimal sway in deciding statewide elections, much less presidential. Though a small percentage of the electorate, the Lumbee tribe, predominantly concentrated in Robeson County, has been making a shift toward Trump since 2016. Winning 63.3% of the vote, Trump saw a 4% jump in the county compared to four years ago.

While Montana may not have been competitive in the presidential race, the Senate race between incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Republican Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy showed tight polling until the very end. Ultimately, Sheehy won comfortably, capturing 52.6% of the vote compared to Tester’s 45.5%. Glacier and Blaine counties, which hold Native American majorities, both saw the sharpest shifts in favor of Sheehy.

While Tester may have advocated the sovereignty of Native American tribes, academics found that 80% of Native Americans’ voting decisions were not based mostly on tribal issues such as coal mining and oil and gas drilling rights. Instead, Native Americans, like most Americans, were influenced by economic factors. 

Native American populations are disproportionately affected by inflation and economic hardship, with the median household income just $35,310 compared to $51,371 for the United States as a whole. The poverty rate for those living on reservations is 29.4% compared with the national average of 15.3%.

Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Swoboda said during an event at the Navajo Nation Fair that it was Trump’s economic messaging that really resonated with Native Americans. 

“If you’re living out here, you have to haul water, and you usually have to travel something like 45 miles to get to where to get the water and then back,” she said. “If you’re looking at gas prices that are out of control, it’s going to cripple you.”